Theresa Archambeault

Theresa is a twenty-four year old Breton, and the Secretary to Queen Elysana's Privy Council. However, this is a title of debatable significance, and her role is closer to an attendant who takes notes in council meetings and makes the Queen's life easier. If anything, Theresa is a person of insight, not influence (on the council, that is.)

Receiving her mother’s height and build and very little of her father in terms of appearance. She has her mother’s straight nose, small jaw and smile. But her light-blue eyes, her mousy brown hair, her sharp and angular features seem to come elsewhere – probably somewhere her mother’s side again(?) Theresa often scrapes her hair back into a bun, or simply ties it back – styles it when she needs to, keeps it down when she wants to and before long, it’s tied back again, becoming too much of a hassle though many agree she looks best with it down.

Of her wardrobe, there exists an assortment of well-fitting coats, jackets, shirts and vests. She tends towards these, preferring to wear the darker blues. However, at court she favours the dress most of which lean towards lighter colours and tones. Not one to succumb to ridiculous fashions but never one to utterly reject fashion as well, she settles for a more presentable wear, to dress smart and sharp.

Imaginative and intelligent, Theresa is a person of ideas, innovation and invention. Mixing creativity and logic, she does tasks with a purpose - even if at the time they don't seem to have any. Constantly thinking, she has a rather restless mind. She enjoys the odd mystery or puzzle to solve – and with a rigid determination, she’d damn better have something solved before she moves on. Yet puzzles, words and numbers always came easier to her than people – and she always did better understand people when they became words on a page. And in a world of politics, when you understand and read people less than others – you always must remain cautious.

Of her three-years apprenticeship under the Royal Physician, Theresa has some knowledge of Restoration and anatomy – though this is far from extensive and with her education cut short, she’s also left with gaping holes in her knowledge.

Born in the City of Wayrest, she was the only child. Her father, Honore Archambeault, was a banker and her mother, Rosalie ran an apothecary. Both her parents moved to Wayrest City; her father being from Menevia, and her mother from a town. They met in the city and became acquainted. When Rosalie was faced with a problem, Honore reached out and aided her. Soon after the incident, the pair married - if only for financial security - at least at first, before coming to love each other.

As a child, Theresa thought too much and spoke too little, choosing to play with her puzzle pieces than with other children. She always better understood people when they became words on a page or pictures, but talking and interacting became an issue. So, she thought that by reading more, perhaps she’d understand real people more – but it was always something that slipped through her fingers. This caused her parents some concern, but soon after befriending Charlotte Cardeau they became less concerned, with Theresa talking and interacting more – but overall, much remained the same. The two fostered a strong friendship, and soon enough Theresa saw her as the sister she never had. Their parents became acquainted and then very quickly, family friends.

When she was 14, Honore left the family without a word, disappearing from their lives entirely. Abandoning the family, her mother fell into a depression. Soon the loving, attentive mother became a shell, a distant woman never really there for herself or for her daughter. As a result of this sudden change in their lives, and Rosalie's reaction - she soon lost her work at the apothecary. Unable to support herself or even her daughter, Theresa turned to look for work; anything that would put food on the table and she found work at an inn. An anxious woman, Rosalie become worried sick every time Theresa left the home and during the times she was not distant, she was suffocating and over-protective.

Theresa sensed her mother feared something though she could never quite place it; and it seemed her mother lost all her strength. Their relationship grew strained, and for some time Theresa was frightened of her own mother. Then, Rosalie fell sick, her condition worsened by a weak heart (she was always sickly). With what little pay Theresa had, she was unable to pay for a physician to aid her bed-ridden mother. And so, using what Rosalie taught her as an apothocarian, little as it was, she attempted to look after her mother on her own.

With all that she was trying, it was just that, and it wasn't working - efforts were useless. From all the nights she found her mother out of bed and in the hall, staring wide-eyed out the window at something, or that one night she had a mental breakdown and threw Theresa to the ground. And Rosalie’s condition worsened. When the opportunity arose, Theresa out of desperation, sent a letter to the Royal Physician requesting a place as his apprentice. The reply came later than she would have liked, but she was accepted. By 15, she came to the Court of Wayrest as the Royal Physician's apprentice, in hopes that she may be able to help her mother. However, whatever hopes she had were short-lived, as her mother passed shortly after.

Leaving nothing but a niggling thought that she should have approached the Royal Physician sooner, and a debt, a small part of Rosalie would remain in her life until it was paid. But despite all – perhaps her parents will always in her life: her father’s disdain for the Mercers, his hobby of discovering the unknown and the unsolved, his loyalty, her mother’s submission and obedience to authority, and her admiration of art and music.

And now, under the tuition of the Royal Physician, Theresa would have her first real taste of arcane studies. At 18, Theresa having interacted with a floundering page given a task by Elysana grew frustrated at him - and without a word to him or anyone, completed said task. After all, you can't have things left undone or worse, done badly. Yet, her interference brought the attention of the Queen, and before she knew it she was no longer a physician’s apprentice but an attendant to Elysana Septim. Tutored and moulded, she became the secretary to the Queen’s Privy Council. The no-nonsense, hard-nosed girl found her place – or rather, cut one out for herself amongst the Queen’s attendants. Coming to respect her Queen, she is loyal servant.